PIK3R2 encodes a ubiquitous regulatory subunit (p85β) of PI3K, an enzyme that generates 3-polyphosphoinositides at the plasma membrane. PI3K activation triggers cell survival and migration. We found ...that p85β expression is elevated in breast and colon carcinomas and that its increased expression correlates with PI3K pathway activation and tumor progression. p85β expression induced moderate PIP ₃ generation at the cell membrane and enhanced cell invasion. In accordance, genetic alteration of pik3r2 expression levels modulated tumor progression in vivo. Increased p85β expression thus represents a cellular strategy in cancer progression.
This paper applies a multiobjective goal programming (GP) model to define the profile of the most profitable insurers by focusing on 14 firm‐decision variables and considering different scenarios ...resulting from the exogenous change in interest rate and GDP per capita growth variables. We consider a detailed database of Spanish non‐life insurers over the period 2003–2012 taking into account two dimensions of insurers’ results: underwriting results and investment results. A prior econometric analysis is used to find out relevant relations among the variables. Next, a GP model is formulated on the basis of the relationships obtained. The model is tested in a robust environment, allowing changes in the coefficients of the objective functions, and for several scenarios regarding crisis/noncrisis situations and changes in interest rates. We find that having the stock organizational form, being an unaffiliated single company and maintaining low levels of investment risk, leverage, and regulatory solvency are recommended for result optimization. Growth and reinsurance utilization are not advisable for optimizing the results, whereas size should be positively emphasized even more in instability periods and when interest rates increase. The results also show that the optimal level of the diversification/specialization strategy depends on economic conditions. More specialization is advisable as negative changes in interest rates increase. However, we find that the optimal values of the diversification variable are higher for the crisis scenarios compared to the corresponding noncrisis scenarios, suggesting that diversification creates value in crisis. Further sensitivity analyses show the soundness of the conclusions obtained.
Prediabetes and post-transplant diabetes mellitus affect about 20-30% of renal transplant patients. The latter is a risk factor for cardiovascular disease. However, no clear evidence linking ...prediabetes and cardiovascular disease is available. To study this we analyzed the impact of prediabetes on cardiovascular disease in 603 renal transplant patients followed with repeated oral glucose tests for up to five years and a long term survival evaluation. Prediabetes and post-transplant diabetes mellitus were defined at 12 months after transplantation to avoid their high reversibility rate before this period. 73 cardiovascular events were observed. The incidence of events was significantly higher in patients with either prediabetes, (17%; 0.023 person/year) or post-transplant diabetes mellitus (20%; 0.028 person/year) than in normal individuals, (7%; 0.0095 person/year). The incidence of events was comparable between prediabetes and post-transplant diabetes mellitus. Prediabetes at 12 months was a risk factor for cardiovascular events in univariate and multivariate Cox survival analyses (hazard ratio 2.24, 95% confidence interval 1.11-4.52). Prediabetes at three months and hemoglobin A1c at 12 months were not significantly associated with cardiovascular disease. Thus, prediabetes is a risk factor for cardiovascular disease in renal transplantation, a population at high risk for cardiovascular events. Since prediabetes is potentially a reversible condition, there is an opportunity to prevent cardiovascular disease in this population.
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Objective:To evaluate differences in yield and composition of the essential oil and antioxidant contents in T.diffusa plants from localities in central region of Tamaulipas.Methods:Samples were ...collected in Tamaulipas,Mexico in the arid zone.Essential oil was obtained through steam distillation and analyzed using GC-MS.Polyphenol contents,antioxidant activities using ABTS and ferric reducing antioxidant power(FRAP) methods also were evaluated.Results:A total of 21 compunds were identified in the essential oils;nevertheless,only Eucalyptol,1,4-Methanocyclooctadpyridazine,1,4,4a,5,6,9,10,10a-octahydro-11,11-dimethyl-,(1à,4à,4aà,10aà) y Ethanone,1-(1,3-dimethyl-3-cyclohexen-1-yl) were detected in the three sites.Highest contents were registered in the sample from Padrón y Juárez with phenolic content of 33.85 mg GAE/g of dry material and antioxidant activities with ABTS 72.32% and with FRAP 21.33 mg GAE/g of dry material.Statistical differences were observed in essential oil,phenolics and antioxidants contents between populations.Conclusions:Results suggest that climatic differences and origin influence the phytochemicals in the medicinal plant T.diffusa,and thus,it is worth to consider such effects for industrial and medicinal purposes.
Molecular tests are useful in detecting COVID-19, but they are expensive in developing countries. COVID-19-sniffing dogs are an alternative due to their reported sensitivity (>80%) and specificity ...(>90%). However, most of the published evidence is experimental, and there is a need to determine the performance of the dogs in field conditions. Hence, we aimed to test the sensitivity and specificity of COVID-19-sniffing dogs in the field.
We trained four dogs with sweat and three dogs with saliva of COVID-19-positive patients, respectively, for 4.5 months. The samples were obtained from a health center in Hermosillo, Sonora, with the restriction to spend 5 min per patient. We calculated sensitivity, specificity, and their 95% confidence intervals (CI).
Two sweat-sniffing dogs reached 76 and 80% sensitivity, with the 95% CI not overlapping the random value of 50%, and 75 and 88% specificity, with the 95% CI not overlapping the 50% value. The 95% CI of the sensitivity and specificity of the other two sweat dogs overlapped the 50% value. Two saliva-sniffing dogs had 70 and 78% sensitivity, and the 95% CI of their sensitivity and specificity did not overlap the 50% value. The 95% CI of the third dog's sensitivity and specificity overlapped the 50% value.
Four of the six dogs were able to detect positive samples of patients with COVID-19, with sensitivity and specificity values significantly different from random in the field. We considered the performance of the dogs promising because it is reasonable to expect that with gauze exposed for a longer time to sweat and saliva of people with COVID-19, their detection capacity would improve. The target is to reach the sensitivity range requested by the World Health Organization for the performance of an antigen test (≥80% sensitivity, ≥97% specificity). If so, dogs could become important allies for the control of the COVID-19 pandemic, especially in developing countries.
Crown fires combine high rates of spread, flame lengths, and intensities, making it virtually impossible to control them by direct action and having significant impact on soils, vegetation, and ...wildlife habitat. For these reasons, fire managers have great interest in preventive silviculture of forested landscapes to avoid the initiation and propagation of crown fires. The minimum conditions necessary to initiate and propagate crown fires are assumed to be strongly influenced by the stand structural variables canopy bulk density (CBD) and canopy base height (CBH). However, there is a lack of quantitative information on these variables and how to estimate them. To characterize the aerial fuel layers of Pinus radiata D. Don, the vertical profiles of canopy fuel in 180 sample plots of pure and even-aged P. radiata plantations were analysed. Effective CBD and CBH were obtained from the vertical profiles, and equations relating these variables to common stand variables were fitted simultaneously. Inclusion of the fitted equations in existing dynamic growth models, together with the use of current fire behaviour and hazard prediction tools, will provide a decision support system for assessing the crown fire potential of different silvicultural alternatives for this species.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
BF, DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
A low-cost custom-made pseudo-anthropomorphic lung phantom, offering a model for ultrasound-guided interventions, is presented. The phantom is a rectangular solidstructure fabricated with polyvinyl ...alcohol cryogel (PVA-C) and cellulose to mimic the healthy parenchyma. The pathologies of interest were embedded as inclusions containing gaseous, liquid, or solid materials. The ribs were 3D-printed using polyethylene terephthalate, and the pleura was made of a bidimensional reticle based on PVA-C. The healthy and pathological tissues were mimicked to display acoustic and echoic properties similar to that of soft tissues. Theflexible fabrication process facilitated the modification of the physical and acoustic properties of the phantom. The phantom's manufacture offers flexibility regarding the number, shape, location, and composition of the inclusions and the insertion of ribs and pleura. In-plane and out-of-plane needle insertions, fine needle aspiration, and core needle biopsy were performed under ultrasound image guidance. The mimicked tissues displayed a resistance and recoil effect typically encountered in a real scenario for a pneumothorax, abscesses, and neoplasms. The presented phantom accurately replicated thoracic tissues (lung, ribs, and pleura) and associated pathologies providing a useful tool for training ultrasound-guided procedures.
Attempts to discover genes that are involved in the pathogenesis of major psychiatric disorders have been frustrating and often fruitless. Concern is building about the need to understand the complex ...ways in which nature and nurture interact to produce mental illness. We analyze the epigenome in several brain regions from schizophrenic patients with severe cognitive impairment using high-resolution (450K) DNA methylation array. We identified 139 differentially methylated CpG sites included in known and novel candidate genes sequences as well as in and intergenic sequences which functions remain unknown. We found that altered DNA methylation is not restricted to a particular region, but includes others such as CpG shelves and gene bodies, indicating the presence of different DNA methylation signatures depending on the brain area analyzed. Our findings suggest that epimutations are not relatables between different tissues or even between tissues' regions, highlighting the need to adequately study brain samples to obtain reliable data concerning the epigenetics of schizophrenia.
Introduction . To describe a rare case of solitary bone cyst in the vertebral body of the lumbar vertebra in an adult patient. The solitary bone cyst is defined as a cystic lesion with liquid ...content. Few cases have been described in the vertebral location without preference for the posterior arch or vertebral body. Most have been treated with resection, curettage, and/or grafting. No case described to date has been treated with polymethylmetacrylate (PMMA) injection in the vertebral location. Case Presentation . A 50‐year‐old male patient was consulted for lumbar pain with no traumatic history and no neurologic deficit. The radiological study showed lumbar arthrodesis with L2‐L4 instrumentation due to an L3 fracture twenty years earlier. Computed tomography (CT) scan showed a lytic lesion occupying practically the entire vertebral body of L5, with incomplete septum and sclerotic edge, without cortical rupture. The previous steel instrumentation was removed, to avoid the presence of artifacts when performing the magnetic resonance (MR), and a biopsy of L5 vertebra was performed via transpedicular in the same act. The MR study findings and biopsy were compatible with the simple bone cyst. Finally, a new intervention was performed by filling the lesion with PMMA. Follow‐up at 5 years was satisfactory without lumbar pain as well as the radiological study and with a return to previous activity. Conclusions . The spinal location of the simple bone cyst is extremely infrequent. Its diagnosis excludes other lesions and is made by imaging studies and biopsy. Treatment can be performed by excision, curettage, or filling with graft or as in this case, with PMMA.
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